


Counter

by Springkink (Zebra)



Category: Foreigner Series - C. J. Cherryh
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-07
Updated: 2016-02-07
Packaged: 2018-05-18 21:05:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 625
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5943069
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zebra/pseuds/Springkink
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They weren’t counters. But they had started to count.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Counter

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Pameluke](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pameluke/gifts).



They weren’t counters.

But they had started to count. The days since their Lord had left, the days since they had last heard about Tabini, the days till the tea would run out.

And the days since their Lord could have returned. They didn’t speak about that one, not with the servants, not with Lord Geigi, not even among themselves. 

They knew that it was only the earliest possible date, the date if Phoenix had immediately turned around upon reaching her goal. Whatever waited at the other end, Phoenix would need time to deal with it. No matter determined the aiji-dowager was, no matter how brilliant Lord Bren was, they’d need time.

Rationally they knew all that, but the calendar still burned them. 

It had been easy enough in the early days, when Phoenix had just left. When there was still some lingering embarrassment over Bren-ji hugging them. Tano remember the moment like it was yesterday. Such a human gesture, such an open display that they mattered to him. They had of course seen him hug others before, but it was different when one was at the receiving end. And that very small moment - that probably no one had seen but which Tano treasured most – when Bren’s arm had tightened by just that much before letting go. As if he wanted to say: You are mine.

But they shaved under the separation and the in-action. Caught on the station, while the world underneath them was falling into shambles. They didn’t know whether Tabini was still alive or not. All they could hope was Bren and Ilisidi and the heir returning to restore the aishiditat. For Lord Bren to let them loose with Banichi and Jago to reclaim all that which he had fought so hard for.

The door opened quitely and Algini walked in in silence. A silence that proclaimed louder than any words that there were no news - no sign of Tabini, no sign of Phoenix. It was still just them.

Tano didn’t bother to look up from the calendar he had been staring at as he said: “I’d rather have Bren hug me a hundred days than having to wait for him just one other.”

Algini’s arm came about him then. Warm, there, a fellow being suffering the separation. As they all suffered the separation, worse than they suffered the rationing.

“There are worse fates than being hugged by Lord Bren. You could be hugged be me for two years.”

There was nothing Tano could say to that dark humor. It wouldn’t have been a worse fate, if their Lord had been here. As it was, some days it was all that kept Tano going.

Dragging his eyes away from the calendar he looked at Algini. Who sat there without any emotion to be seen, which spoke of a hurt all of it’s own.

Maybe Tano imagined Algini’s arm tightening just a bit, or maybe it was wishful thinking, but in the end it didn’t matter, because when hugged Algini to himself it was as if some normalcy had been restored. Algini’s presence the only thing that remained from before the pain started. The only thing keeping him sane when he wanted to just lay in bed and dream of better times. Algini’s presence reminding that him that he could just vanish into silence, that he had to be there for the servants, for Lord Geigi, for Algini. They both had to keep at the top of their game for when Lord Bren returned to set their tumbled world back into order.

And as Tano bit that spot under Algini’s ear which did always elicited a sound and a response from his partner, the days since Bren-ji could have returned were almost forgotten.

**Author's Note:**

> I would have also liked to write about assassins and sex toys, unfortunately I could only think of accidents involving a live wire.


End file.
